


A Terrible No Good Day

by WordMusician



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Really it could be any Doctor, mildly angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 14:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordMusician/pseuds/WordMusician
Summary: “Travelling with you, it’s mostly wonderful and I wouldn’t stop doing it for anything, but sometimes...” she looked at him sideways, “sometimes it’s just shit.”Not every adventure has a happily ever after.





	A Terrible No Good Day

**Author's Note:**

> I could not decide which Doctor is in this little story. Please read and decide for yourselves...and leave your vote in the comments if you like.

She sat on the end of the dock, her legs dangling over the still water.  She stared sightless over the wet expanse.  Over and over the images played on the flickering screen of her memory.  Sounds silenced forever rang in her tender ears.

He stood in the shadows watching and waiting.  Every one of his considerable senses were focused on her.  By the rise and fall of her shoulders and the expansion and contraction of her rib cage he could see exactly when her stifled sobs became deep breaths, then became heavy sighs.  His superior hearing would have heard her too, except she made no sound.  He imagined he could pick up the salty scent of her tears.  Surely he could taste them on the light breeze the moved in off the water.  The planet beneath his feet continued its rotation and orbit, but he was waiting for feel the vibrations that would tell him she was in motion.

Finally she swung her feet up onto the dock.  Rising she brushed off her seat and her hands as if leaving something behind, and walked toward him.

He pushed away from his leaning post but let her complete the distance between them.  She stopped just beyond his reach.

“Tell me again why you brought me here?”

He arched an eyebrow.  He hadn’t brought them here – that had totally been the TARDIS, and he would have a long talk (rant) about this whole muck-up with his meddling ship.  Not that he expected it would change anything.

She turned away from his silence, brushed away one last tear.  “I understand about fixed points, yeah?  Learned that the hard way with my dad.  I didn’t need to see this...”

Unable to wait any longer, he moved towards her but she seemed to sense him and moved to keep the distance.  She wrapped her arms about herself and blinked up at the cloudless sky.  “Travelling with you, it’s mostly wonderful and I wouldn’t stop doing it for anything, but sometimes...” she looked at him sideways, “sometimes it’s just shit.”

He stared at the ground, ashamed of his inability to control his TARDIS, ashamed at his inability to control time, ashamed at his inability to shield her tender heart.  “If there had been anything, anything I could have done...”  He hunched his shoulders in defeat.  Rose was right: the universe was heartless and some days were just shit.”

“I know.”

The complete confidence behind her simple words was a shaft of light on his darkening soul.  How many times did she toss him a lifeline without ever realizing?  He looked up to see her smile crookedly at him.  He closed the space between them and wrapped her in a sideways hug.  She leaned against his chest and he leaned his chin on her head.

They stood there for a long time.  Finally he kissed the top of her head and asked, “Where would you like to go?  Shopping?  Relaxing?  Want to try rock climbing or paragliding?  Or,” he swallowed hard, “would you like to go see your mum?”

Rose turned in his arms, sliding her arms inside his coat to hug his waist.  She looked up into his ancient eyes, seeing his earnest desire to help ease the pain.  “Where would you like to go, Doctor?”

He gazed down into the warmth and acceptance of her gaze.  Unconsciously his arms tightened about her.  She was so giving and so trusting and his jaded psyche drank in as much as she would give him.  “Truthfully?  I’d rather stay in and watch a movie or read a book with you.”

The fact that he didn’t want to rush off to their next adventure was not lost on her.  Today had been hard for him too, she realized.

“Popcorn?”

“Of course.”

“Not the blue stuff, real popcorn with loads of butter and salt.”

“Your wish is my command, although I do feel obligated to warn you that too much butter and salt is hard on your arteries.”

“Duly noted, but I’ll risk it.”

Reluctantly he let her go, but as soon as possible he claimed her hand.  They climbed the grassy knoll together.

**Author's Note:**

> So if this is 9 I imagine this happened sometime before Are You My Mummy. If this is 10 I imagine it sometime after Tooth & Claw. Or this could be in Pete's Universe after they grew their own TARDIS. Or, maybe it's another Doctor the dimension hopping Rose encountered. What do you think? Who do you hear?


End file.
